6XML light bar

Bigtoy302

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Apr 22, 2012
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Eugene, OR
So, I have been working hard at trying to develop the ultimate LED light bar. This is what I have come up with.

Specs:

Solid billet 6061-t6 aluminum machined in house. ( Production units will be anodized black.)
7.875"X1.875"X3"
6 Cree X-ML LED's LT5 5000k.
60 watts.
5100 LUMEN output. ( Cree's specs on the emitters themselves.)
Micro controller.
Thermal protection 80C 165F ( yes it will run that hot on high with no airflow. All components will run greater than 100C without failure.)
Reverse Polarity protection.
9-24 Volt input.
Changeable optics.

Abrasion resistant polycarbonate lens with a Viton oring seal.

Simple three wire hookup. You can directly hook the power and ground to the battery and run a single small wire to a momentary switch to ground to select modes.

low,medium, high modes. Hidden strobe modes.( hold button down for 1 second when light is off.) Hold button down for 1 second at any time to turn light off.

I may end up offering custom programming for a small fee. Up to 16 modes possible.

Manufactured in house. Electronics are also MADE IN THE USA.
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Wiring and housing entry are temporary till I come up with a cleaner approach.

I already found out I need to double the amount of screws holding the cover on. The viton oring pushes out the cover between the light holes. This will allow me to run the wires into the side.
 

Bigtoy302

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Apr 22, 2012
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Eugene, OR
:wow:
:bow:
Fantastic design! I love it!
When are you going into production?

btw, :welcome:

Hopefully within the next few months. I just need to come up with some capital $$$.



Here are a few beam shots.

Barn is about 100 yards and the tress are about 150 yards. This is with all narrow optics.
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I mounted it up a my DRZ for some real world testing.
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I swapped out the two outer optics for ellipticals.
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Do not worry, I am not running this on the street. This was just for reference.
 

-Virgil-

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Mar 26, 2004
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7,802
That's really nice craftsmanship and attention to detail! Looks like a great deal of light out of it. Any chance you'll be continuing to tweak the beam distribution? Right now it looks like a large circle, which means a lot of foreground light. This works against you if you're trying for long seeing distance; the intensely-lit foreground causes your eyes' irises to constrict, which creates the subjective feeling/impression of "good" lighting, but distance visual acuity nosedives. Can you lift most of that foreground light up and "flatten" the beam pattern so it's more of a horizontal oblong or oval (or at least a "D on its back" shape)? Shift most of the foreground light into the central high intensity zone and spread the beam horizontally some more. That light that's presently nuking the road surface right in front of the vehicle could be put to much more productive use.

What kind of flux in beam are you seeing? Peak intensity? Depending on the latter figure, a lamp like this could probably qualify for certification as a road-legal auxiliary high beam ("driving") lamp under one or more of the applicable regulations, which would greatly expand its marketability. Can you tell us more about "changeable optics"? And what kind of anti-UV/anti-abrasion hard coat are you using on your polycarbonate front lens?
 

Spankis

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Jul 14, 2012
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This is VERY cool, and looks to be a very high quality piece. I've got a few automotive products from Rigid Industries that I'm quite happy with, but this has me very intrigued. I would likely be interested in one pending price.
 

ssvqwnp

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Oct 2, 2010
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Louisiana
Would the cooling fins work better if they were running from front to back instead of side to side? It seems like they way they are now, the airflow wouldn't go down between them very well.
 

Bigtoy302

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Joined
Apr 22, 2012
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Eugene, OR
That's really nice craftsmanship and attention to detail! Looks like a great deal of light out of it. Any chance you'll be continuing to tweak the beam distribution? Right now it looks like a large circle, which means a lot of foreground light. This works against you if you're trying for long seeing distance; the intensely-lit foreground causes your eyes' irises to constrict, which creates the subjective feeling/impression of "good" lighting, but distance visual acuity nosedives. Can you lift most of that foreground light up and "flatten" the beam pattern so it's more of a horizontal oblong or oval (or at least a "D on its back" shape)? Shift most of the foreground light into the central high intensity zone and spread the beam horizontally some more. That light that's presently nuking the road surface right in front of the vehicle could be put to much more productive use.

What kind of flux in beam are you seeing? Peak intensity? Depending on the latter figure, a lamp like this could probably qualify for certification as a road-legal auxiliary high beam ("driving") lamp under one or more of the applicable regulations, which would greatly expand its marketability. Can you tell us more about "changeable optics"? And what kind of anti-UV/anti-abrasion hard coat are you using on your polycarbonate front lens?

I do have the light aimed down a bit. It does get better once I sit on the bike. It does not really throw any more if I aim the light up.

Optics are Carclo 26.5mm. I have only tried using narrow and elliptical optics. Beam pattern could be changed using other carclo optics. I think to get a different shape I would have to do a full custom optic. I am trying to keep the price down so I want to use off the shelf optics.

Lenses will be standard abrasion resistant polycarbonate.

Would the cooling fins work better if they were running from front to back instead of side to side? It seems like they way they are now, the airflow wouldn't go down between them very well.

Yes, but that would not be to manufacturing friendly. I am milling these in house out of solid 6061. With just a few MPH of air flow the temp drops to 50c. At 50-55 mph the light is barely over ambient.

Very cool
looks like a cool light

Any idea on price (obviously not cheap being built well and in the USA)

Price will be $300 including wiring harness.
 

-Virgil-

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Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
7,802
Carclo makes nice optics. One thing:

Lenses will be standard abrasion resistant polycarbonate.

Not adequate. They will degrade very quickly and badly in front-of-vehicle service, and with plain polycarbonate, no matter how much "abrasion resistance" might be claimed for it, you cannot get certification or approval for on-road use. And even if you constrain to the off-road market, unless the lenses are both replaceable and inexpensive (which opens up a water/dirt ingress can of worms), you will quickly **** off your customers when the lenses go bad.

Best would be a glass lens. Probably not practical because of the custom shape, but you might look into it. Second best would be a good grade of polycarbonate with a plasma coating on it. Plasma coating is expensive and finicky. Optimal route is probably to go with a Grilamid lens; that stuff is amazing. Read about it here and here.
 

Echo63

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Perth - West Australia
300 USD - thats pretty reasonable
i may have to try and find the funds for a pair
much cheaper than i was expecting

Is it possible to get a neutral or warm led used ?
 

kingofwylietx

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DFW, TX
To keep cost down, can you add a layer of flat Grilamid lens or UV filtering glass to protect your polycarbonate focusing lenses? It seems that they would not significantly affect beam profile or transmission, yet would offer the UV protection to ensure long lens life. If they were flat, you could attach them to the front of your light. If anything happens to them, they would be easily replaceable without haveing to enter the actual light housing.
 

Bigtoy302

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Apr 22, 2012
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Location
Eugene, OR
Carclo makes nice optics. One thing:



Not adequate. They will degrade very quickly and badly in front-of-vehicle service, and with plain polycarbonate, no matter how much "abrasion resistance" might be claimed for it, you cannot get certification or approval for on-road use. And even if you constrain to the off-road market, unless the lenses are both replaceable and inexpensive (which opens up a water/dirt ingress can of worms), you will quickly **** off your customers when the lenses go bad.

Best would be a glass lens. Probably not practical because of the custom shape, but you might look into it. Second best would be a good grade of polycarbonate with a plasma coating on it. Plasma coating is expensive and finicky. Optimal route is probably to go with a Grilamid lens; that stuff is amazing. Read about it here and here.

These will only be marketed for off road use. I do not plan on trying to make them DOT approved. Glass will not work in the off road world. Abrasion resistant polycarbonate is the standard for led light bars. Lenses will be cheap and easy to change. There is a viton oring under the lens for easy R&R. Remember I am trying to keep the price down so more people can afford these. I am trying to stay away from custom molded parts.

300 USD - thats pretty reasonable
i may have to try and find the funds for a pair
much cheaper than i was expecting

Is it possible to get a neutral or warm led used ?

These are neutral's, 5000k. I will not be offering other colors.
 

Illum

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Apr 29, 2006
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Central Florida, USA
$300 is pretty reasonable considering the custom machining, integral circuits, etc, looks like an elegant logistical solution to a field light on a 12V system. Hi-Med-Low is an added plus. This would replace the 500W halogen werklight nicely. I have a question though, are the optics replaceable by the user? [As in non-thread-locked screws and nonproprietary optics], as a werklight the last thing I need is serious throw.
 

Bigtoy302

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Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
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Location
Eugene, OR
$300 is pretty reasonable considering the custom machining, integral circuits, etc, looks like an elegant logistical solution to a field light on a 12V system. Hi-Med-Low is an added plus. This would replace the 500W halogen werklight nicely. I have a question though, are the optics replaceable by the user? [As in non-thread-locked screws and nonproprietary optics], as a werklight the last thing I need is serious throw.

Optics are standard off the shelf Carclo 26.5mm. They will be user replaceable.
 

Echo63

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Apr 26, 2004
Messages
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Location
Perth - West Australia
These are neutral's, 5000k. I will not be offering other colors.

I missed where you said that earlier, great to see.

Having an easily replaced front lens, and an easy to replace off the shelf optic is awesome
It means you can configure the light for different applications, as a "long range" light or a close in flood or work light.

And at that price too - im thinking i may have to get three, two forward facing and an Aux reverse light (to be used off road only)
 
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